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A number of years ago, like most boot enthusiasts, I discovered the Hotboots Boots On Line board created by my friend Larry and his husband, Bill, a long, long time ago.<\/p>\nA number of years ago, like most boot enthusiasts, I discovered the Hotboots Boots On Line board created by my friend Larry and his husband, Bill, a long, long time ago.<\/p>\n
When I discovered that board, I was amazed to find that there were a lot of other guys who…
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\n…were enthusiastic about boots in all varieties, shapes, sizes, vintages, and styles.<\/p>\n
I learned a lot from the posters on that board. It also inspired me to create my own bootedman.com website<\/a> to catalog and display my boot collections (and get The Spouse off my back with claims that I didn’t know what boots I had). I sincerely appreciated Larry and Bill’s help as I was learning how to develop and build websites.<\/p>\n For about eight years or so, I used to post messages and photos on that board to share my thoughts, ideas, or questions. I think it is safe to say that the “Boots On Line” (BOL) board was an early approach to social media (as we see it now on Facebook and other platforms.) I give credit to Larry and Bill for being years ahead of the times.<\/p>\n Most comments and replies to my posts on the BOL board were helpful and supportive. A few guys were jerks and made snarky, rude, or insulting comments, but for the most part, participants on that board were generally positive. <\/p>\n This is typical nature of social media boards — some people behind the veil of anonymity feel freer to express opinions, including nasty ones. I figured that the few who were negative had “issues” of their own (jealously, fear, insecurity, etc.), so I took pity on them and dismissed them.<\/p>\n However, like any type of internet board or social platform, all postings required frequent revisiting to review, answer follow-ups (there were many) and occasionally, have to ask a moderator to remove a comment (or an entire post) if the reply(ies) were going down the toilet into snipy negativity.<\/p>\n As I got busier and busier in my own life — my spouse’s health issues and my elderly aunt during her Alzheimer’s-induced decline being a primary concern with the time required to attend to caregiving — and also taking on a demanding job, operating at a high level of demand — I “backed off” the BOL board.<\/p>\n I just did not have time to post anything, and more time-consuming, I didn’t have time to read comments on my posts, answer questions, or request moderator intervention on those few occasions that it was warranted.<\/p>\n Today I just dropped in on the BOL board (first time in over a year) and saw postings from the “usual” crowd there. It was good to see familiar screen names of guys I had gotten to know. I have not communicated with any of them for a long time (except for my friend Bamaboy), except for a few via another social media platform.<\/p>\n I miss the camaraderie. I just wish I had more time to spend on the computer, but I don’t. Or shall I say, I do not arrange my personal time to devote to it.<\/p>\n One thing about not having a sillyphone — I don’t sit in idle time looking and poking at one. I guess the BOL board is sillyphone-friendly, so guys with those devices can post and comment using one when they have a few minutes here-and-there.<\/p>\n I’m strange, I guess. I really don’t have idle time. When I drive, 1000% of my attention is on my driving. When I spend time at work, with my spouse at home, or in the community doing “my thing” in volunteering, I do not have idle time, either. Also, I continue to realize my promise to my spouse that when we are together, my attention is devoted to him. <\/p>\n I will not be “that guy” who sits on the sofa with the Spouse to watch TV and play with a sillyphone simultaneously. We have discussed that. Spouse thinks that I would be signaling that whoever I am communicating with is more important than he is, and that is not the case whatsoever. If I truly must do something on a computer (answer email, etc.), then I go do that in my home office and join the Spouse when I will not have distractions with anything else.<\/p>\n I arrange my personal schedule so that when I awake at 0400 each day, after tending to personal hygiene and getting in some exercise, I may have about 15 – 30 minutes to write this blog or update my website, but little time to do anything else. Other time during my day is consumed with working for a living, caring for The Spouse, and what I do for the various boards, commissions, and volunteer activities that I do.<\/p>\n Well, I digress. I’m sure other boot enthusiasts are as busy as I am, perhaps in different ways. I choose not to participate in BOL any more because I limit my “free time” required to participate, reply, and moderate posts. Being active on that board requires more time than I am willing to carve out of other things I do.<\/p>\n Life is short: know demands on your time and prioritize accordingly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A number of years ago, like most boot enthusiasts, I discovered the Hotboots Boots On Line board created by my friend Larry and his husband, Bill, a long, long time ago. When I discovered that board, I was amazed to … Continue reading